Apps That Help You Nail Your New Year’s Resolutions

Happy 2016! With a new year, come goals for a happier, healthier, awesomer you. We kick off the new year showcasing must-have apps you need to help you stick to your new year’s resolutions well into the year to help you be the newer, awesomer you (as if that were possible).

1. Whether it is quitting smoking, dropping the alcohol or ending the Facebook stalking of your ex, the Quit That! App helps your track your new year’s resulprogress to help you finally quit that bad habit.

Let’s face it, we all have habits we want to kick whether it is giving up that 2nd cup of coffee or finally ending the late-night texting to your ex that lead to nothing but agita. With Quit This, quitting…whatever…becomes simpler. Simply download the free app, type in the one-word habit you want to drop (smoking, coffee, etc), enter in how much your habit costs you per day and go. You can visually see how long you have quit your habit (a great motivating tool) and how much money you have saved. One iTunes fan writes:

“This is such a simple app, but AMAZING!…Whenever I’m tempted, I look at the count and say to myself, ” Do you really want to see that count go back to zero?” And I stay quit.”

2. With the Rise App, finally lose those last lbs and get healthy for life. Take pictures of your food and the food police (err…nutritionist) in your pocket gives you tips, tricks and motivation all inside this nifty app.

Healthier eating and weight loss is a goal for 41% of us making resolutions this year. But for those of us who are pretty aware of our choices or could use the help of a coach to take it up a notch, Rise is a fantastic choice. Simply identify your goals, pick a coach and get going. Your task is to type in or photograph everything you eat. I mean, every. single. thing. From this, the food police…there I go again…I mean your Rise coach will rate what you ate, pinpoint your problems, make suggestions and overall creates a sense of accountability about your food choices, unlike any other app. That’s because a human being is on the other side, checking on you daily. The app boasts that users lose at least 1 lb a week and make healthier choices.

Honorable mention: Weight Watchers or MyFitness Pal are great choices for those needing help with food logging, calorie counting and a basic kick start.

3. Learning a language has never been easier or fun thanks to the help of technology from the Duolingo App which makes learning a language like a video game, addictive and fun while delivering classroom-equivalent learning. 100 million users can’t be wrong

If you’re like me, learning (or re-learning) a foreign language is a perpetual item on your bucket list, but who has the time or money to invest/waste on Rosetta Stone? Duolingo is awesome and addresses this dilemma. Based in science, the platform has become like a blend of Khan Academy (with its innovative educational approach) + Luminosity (with its game-based brain training) = free, innovative, fun and educational.

Over 15 languages are available to learn including French, Russian and even Polish, and you set your own learning path (5 mins/day – 20 mins/day), take a test to rate your skills or start as a beginner and let the games begin! The technique is so effective that the company claims that a recent independent study found that when using Duolingo for 34 hours, students learn the equivalent of one university semester of language instruction. One iTunes user added:

“This is an extremely helpful and fun app for anyone who wants to learn the basics of a language at a causal pace, especially for those of us with busy schedules and limited resources”